CORRECTS - US working as 'diligently as possible' on sale of F-16 jets to Ankara: State Dept.

CORRECTS ERRORS IN 3RD GRAF FOR CLARIFICATION

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US on Wednesday said it is working "as diligently as possible" regarding the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara while it looks forward to ratification of Sweden's NATO accession at the Turkish parliament.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US welcomes the vote at the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission last week, adding: "We look forward to a final vote and seeing Sweden's accession ratified."

"We have made clear that we did not believe the sale of F-16s, modernizations to Turkey should be linked with Sweden's NATO accession, but there are members of Congress who have a different opinion and that they have linked the two," Miller said in response to a question from Anadolu reporter.

Miller did not comment on when the State Department will be prepared to move forward with the sale and send the formal notification to Congress.

"We have had obstacles in Congress because of the actions that Turkey has taken that we have had to navigate and work through. We have been trying to work through those as diligently as possible," he said.

"But I will say that I think the best thing that could happen to lead the progress ... on this issue would be for Turkey to take action as soon as possible to ratify Sweden’s accession," he added.

Legislation greenlighting Sweden's accession to NATO was approved last week by the Turkish parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, leaving only one vote in the general assembly to grant or deny Türkiye’s full approval.

It came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed Sweden's NATO accession protocol and submitted it to parliament in October.

Türkiye approved Finland's membership in the alliance in March but said it was waiting for Sweden to abide by a June 2022 trilateral memorandum to address Ankara's security concerns.

Türkiye is seeking to purchase from the US the latest model F-16 Block 70 aircraft, as well as 79 modernization kits to upgrade its remaining F-16s to Block 70 level.

Although the Biden administration repeatedly said it wants to move forward with the sale of F-16 jets to Türkiye, key lawmakers on Capitol Hill have vowed to nix the deal because of several demands, including making the purchase contingent on Ankara's approval of Sweden's NATO membership bid.